ties and borough townes for the preservation of the peace, and further, that if from that time any murder or robbery was committed, the town in which it was done should be liable to the damages thereof. Such was the origin of the Nightly Watch. PRESENTATION OF LORD MAYOR OF LONDON TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR. King John granted to the citizens of London a charter, impowering them to choose their own mayor, yet by the same power they were generally obliged to present him to the king for his approbation, or, in his absence, to his justiciary; this custom still remaining, he is yearly presented to the lord chancellor, which many of the citizens regard as a needless ceremony; 'twill not be improper, says Maitland, to acquaint all who are of that mind, that this con firming power is so essential, that without it, a mere stranger could act as well. COUNTING OF HOB-NAILS, &c. The year 1235 is memorable for a little city incident, which has contrived to transmit its remembrance to our times, by means of an annual ceremony at swearing in the sheriff, September 30, before the cursitor barons of the exchequer, which is performed with much solemnity by one of the aldermen, in presence of the lord mayor, who goes into, and continues in the court covered. One Walter le Bruin, a farrier, obtained a grant from the crown of a certain spot of ground in the Strand, in the parish of Clement Danes, whereon to erect a forge for carrying on his business. For this the city was to pay annually an acknowledgement, or quit rent, of six horse shoes, with the nails appertaining, at the King's Exchequer, Westminster. The forge and manufactory exist no longer, but the acknowledgement, after a lapse of so many ages, continues still to be paid.* BONE-FIRES. In earlier times they made fires of bones in commemoration of John the Baptist, who, it is said, drove away many dragons when in the wilderness by the burning of bones-" of which they have a great dislike." From this circumstance our bone-fires, although made of wood, derive their cognomen. FEAST OF ASSES.' The feast of asses in France was held in honour of Balaam's ass, when the clergy, at Christmas, walked in procession, dressed so as to represent the prophets. Suppressed early-before 1445. BENDING THE KNEE. Bending the knee, at the name or mention of Jesus, was first ordered by the Roman Catholic church in the year 1275. HOAXING. The first hoax of a modern kind on record was practised by a wag in the reign of Queen Anne. It appeared in the papers of that time. "A well dressed man rode down the king's road from Fulham, at * Hunter. a most furious rate, commanding each turnpike to be thrown open, as he was a messenger, conveying the news of the queen's sudden death. The alarm instantly spread into every quarter of the city; the trained bands, who were on their parade, desisted from their exercise, furled their colours, and returned home, with their arms reversed. The shop-keepers began to collect their sables, when the jest was discovered-not the author of it." GOES OF LIQUOR. The tavern called the Queen's Head, in Duke's Court, Bow Street, was once kept by a facetious individual of the name of Jupp. Two celebrated characters, Annesley Shay, and Bob Todrington, a sporting man (caricatured by old Dighton, and nicknamed by him the knowing one," from his having converted to his own use a large sum of money intrusted to him by the noted Dick England, who was compelled to fly the country, having shot Mr. Rolls in a duel, which had a fatal termination), met one evening at the above place, went to the bar, and asked for half-a-quartern each, with a little cold water. In course of time they drank four-and-twenty, when Shay said to the other, "Now we'll go." O no," replied he, we'll have another and then go." This did not satisfy the Hibernians, and they continued drinking on till three in the morning, when they both agreed to Go, so that under the idea of going they made a long stay, and this was the origin of drinking or calling for Goes; but another, determined to eke out the measure his own way, used to call for a quartern at a time, and these in the exercise of his humour he called stays. TARRING AND FEATHERING. This custom, which had grown into dis-use until just prior to the old American war, when it was revived with great avidity to the cost of our custom-house officers on the other side of the Atlantic, takes its data or origin from the following: Holinshead says, that in the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, it was enacted, "If any man be taken with theft or pickery, and therein convicted, he shall have his head polled, and hot pitch poured on his pate, and upon that feathers of some pillow or cushion shaken aloft, that he may thereby be known as a thief, and at the next arrivals of the ships to any land, be put forth of the company to seek his adventures without all hope of return to his fellows." LAW OF SHIPWRECK. "A wreck, a wreck! resounds along the strand By the act of 3d of Edward 1st, cap. 4, and 4th of the same king, cap. 2, it is enacted, that if a man, a dog, or a cat, escape alive out of any ship, such ship shall not be deemed a wreck. On the 6th December, 1824, the ship Dart, of Sunderland, drifted into Portsmouth, without a soul on board; a live cat, however, being found in the cabin, she escaped becoming a droit of the admiralty, and was given in charge of the sheriff, to be delivered to the owners. FEES, WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The vile custom of taking fees at Westminster Abbey is of very 66 ancient date. Shirley alludes to it in his pleasant comedy, called The Bird in a Cage," when Bonomico, a mountebank, observes : I talk as glib, 66 Methinks, as he that farms the monuments. The dean and chapter, however, in these days, were less exorbitant in their demands, for the price of admission was but one penny to the whole. The present dean and chapter, in reply to an order of the House of Commons for a return of their receipts arising from the exhibition of the monuments, &c. observe "This grant was made to the chapter in 1597, on condition, that receiving the benefits of the exhibition of the monuments, they should keep the same monuments always clean," &c. This sermon, yearly preached on Easter Monday at Christ Church, Christ's Hospital, derives its name from the priory and hospital of our blessed lady, St. Mary Spital, situated on the east side of Bishopsgate Street, with fields in the rear, which now form the suburb, called Spital-fields. This hospital, founded in 1197, had a large church-yard with a pulpit cross, from whence it was an an cient custom, on Easter Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, for sermons to be preached on the resurrection before the lord mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, and others, who sat in a house of two stories for that purpose, the bishop of London and the prelates being above them. In 1594, the pulpit was taken down and a new one set up, and a large house for the governors and children of Christ's Hospital to sit in.* In April 1559, queen Elizabeth came in great state from St. Mary Spital, attended by a thousand men in harness, with shirts of mail and croslets, and morris pikes, and ten great pieces carried through London unto the court, with drums, flutes, and trumpets sounding, and two morris dancers, and two white bears in a cart. The Spital sermons were, after the restoration, preached at St. Bride's, Fleet Street, but have been since removed to Christ Church, Newgate Street. LION SERMON. A merchant of London,+ about two centuries ago, went on a voyage to Africa; the ship was wrecked on the coast, and all perished save himself. Exhausted and deeply impressed with his melancholy situation, he lay stretched on the shore, when to his surprise and fright he saw approaching him an immense lion! Petitioning the Almighty to spare his life, he vowed, in return for such a boon, to give on his arrival in England a part of his wealth to the poor of his parish; likewise to perpetuate his miraculous escape (should it be Sir John Gager, who was lord mayor of London in 1646. permitted him), to leave a certain sum* for the preaching of a sermon on the day on which it occurred. The tradition states, his prayer was heard, the lion looked on him and passed him: he shortly after had the gratification to see a vessel approach; he was taken on board, arrived in London, and fulfilled his vow. At the parish church of St. Catherine Cree, in Leadenhall Street, what is called the Lion Sermon is preached, on the day of the aforesaid miraculous escape. Mighty monarch of the forest Noble Nature beats through thee; MAY-POLES. The May-pole is up I'll drink to the garlands around it; But first unto those Whose hands did compose The glory of flowers that crown'd it. Herrick. London in former times abounded with May-poles, they were called shafts. Jeffrey Chaucer, writing of a vain boaster, hath these words, alluding to a shaft in Cornhill near to the church of St. Andrew Undershaft.+ 66 Right well aloft, and high you bear your head, * * * * * * * * * * * As you would bear the great shaft of Cornhill " This shaft, or May-pole, was kept in an alley in the vicinity, called Shaft Alley; and on the 1st of May was brought out, dressed with flowers and birds' eggs, and reared up near unto the church, amid the shoutings and rejoicings of the lookers on. At Gisor's Hall (Gerrard's) also, was a long shaft, and which was supposed by the ignorant to be the staff of one Geraldus a giant, but which in fact was nothing more than a May-pole, that was wont to be yearly brought out on the 1st of May, and placed before the door. § A processional engraving, by Vertue, among the prints of the Antiquarian Society, represents a May-pole, at a door or two westward beyond "Where Catherine Street descends into the Strand." Washington Irving says, "I shall never forget the delight I felt on first seeing a May-pole, It was on the banks of the Dee, close by the picturesque old bridge that stretches across the river from the quaint little city of Chester. I already had been carried back into former days by the antiquities of that venerable place; the examination of which is equal to turning over the pages of a black letter volume, or gazing on the pictures in Froissart. The May-pole on the margin of that poetic stream completed the illusion. My * 208, to the Minister-2s. 6d. to the Clerk-1s. to the Sexton. Formerly Cornhill extended thus far. Stowe. fancy adorned it with wreaths of flowers, and peopled the green bank with all the dancing revelry of May day. "The mere sight of this May-pole gave a glow to my feelings, and spread a charm over the country for the rest of the day; and as I traversed a part of the fair plains of Cheshire, and the beautiful borders of Wales, and looked from among swelling hills down a long green valley, through which the Beva wound its wizard stream,' my imagination turned all into a perfect arcadia. One can readily imagine what a gay scene it must have been in jolly old London, when the doors were decorated with flowering branches, when every hat was decked with hawthorn; and Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, the morris dancers, and all the other fantastic masks and revellers were performing their antics about the May-pole in every part of the city." The May-pole is of Roman origin, and formed part of the Games of Flora, but it is mere conjecture as to the period when it was first introduced into this country. WHIPPING OF APPLE TREES. There are various customs still prevalent in honour of the goddess Pomona, whom it was said presided over fruit. Among others, is that of whipping the apple trees, in order that they may produce a plentiful crop. This custom is still observed at Warkingham in Surrey. Early in the spring the boys go round to several orchards in the parish, and having performed the ceremony, they carry a little bag to the house, when the good woman gives them some meal or oatmeal. EATON MONTEM. "But weak the harp now tun'd to praise When greedy thousands eager gaze, When triumph hails aloud the joys Which on those hours await; When Montem crowns the Eaton boy's Long fam'd triennial fete." The triennial custom of the Eton scholars parading to Salt-hill, and distributing salt, originated in the early days of monkish superstition, when the friars used to sell their consecrated salt for medical purposes. SWEARING BY BELL BOOK, AND CANDLE. This originated in the manner of the Pope's blessing the world yearly, from the balcony of St. Peter's at Rome. He holds a wax taper lighted, a Cardinal reads a curse on all heretics, and no sooner is the last word uttered, than the bell tolls, and the Pope changes the curse into a blessing, throwing down his taper among the people. EASTER. Easter-day is distinguished by its peculiar name, through our Saxon ancestors, who at this season of the year held a great festival, in honour of the goddess Eastor, probably the astarte of the Eastern nations. The French call this festival paques, derived from the Greek pascha, and Hebrew pesech, i. e. passover, and whence we have the English paschal, as applied to the lamb in the last supper. The earliest possible day whereon Easter can happen is the 22d |